Colleen O'Dea

New Jersey

Senior Writer and Projects Editor at NJ Spotlight News

Senior Writer and Projects Editor at NJ PBS

Journalist and data wrangler for @NJSpotlightNews. Lifelong Jersey girl. Proud mom and fan of Bruuuuuce. Crocheting is my zen. All my tweets are my own.

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Articles

What NJ school performance reports reveal

1 week ago | njspotlightnews.org | Colleen O'Dea |Hannah Gross

How we reported this storyThe New Jersey Department of Education’s School Performance Report for the 2023-24 school year includes more than 80 tables and graphics on topics including demographics, academic achievement, graduation, college and career readiness, discipline, staff and spending. The department’s reference guide to the performance report stretches to more than 100 pages. Members of the public can access the data on the department’s website.
NJ’s judicial vacancies creep up again

2 weeks ago | njspotlightnews.org | Colleen O'Dea

The number of judicial vacancies is creeping up and if positions aren’t filled soon, some counties could be forced to pause divorce and other civil hearings, judges told an Assembly committee earlier this week. According to the latest data from the judiciary, there are 50 openings, fewer than the record high of 75 in spring of 2022, but still roughly double the number judiciary officials have said they can tolerate without lengthy disruptions in casework.
Rep. Tom Kean holds short phone meeting with constituents

4 weeks ago | njspotlightnews.org | Colleen O'Dea

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. held a 35-minute telephone meeting with constituents Wednesday night, his first this session, just days after Democrats held two in-person events in his district that drew hundreds wanting to talk about the state of the federal government. In his second term in Congress, Kean has yet to hold an in-person town hall. A press release from his office announcing the phone-in event stated that he held 10 such events during the last congressional session.
Check the location of NJ’s 588 abandoned mines

1 month ago | njspotlightnews.org | Colleen O'Dea

The sinkholes that opened along Route 80 in Morris County shocked many, but given the rich mining history of the area, they might not be surprising. A New Jersey Geological Survey history of the New Jersey Highlands notes that the formation of the region over a billion years led to its rocky characteristic, with granite underlying about half of the area that stretches like a sash from northern Bergen County down to western Hunterdon County.
NJ Decides 2025 - NJ Spotlight News

1 month ago | njspotlightnews.org | Colleen O'Dea |Briana Vannozzi |David Cruz

Sen. Jon Bramnick and former Senate President Steve Sweeney explain what they would do for New Jersey
NJ recoups $100M annually in Medicaid fraud and overpayments

1 month ago | njspotlightnews.org | Colleen O'Dea

New Jersey’s Medicaid monitors have identified more than $1 billion in fraud, overpayments or wrongful payments over the last decade. The Office of the State Comptroller recovered almost $120 million in overpayments or wrongful payments in just the last fiscal year. More overpayments and potential fraud are likely to be found, particularly in payments to nursing homes, said Kevin Walsh, the acting state comptroller, but he doesn’t know how much.
Reviewing COVID-19 impact on NJ on fifth-year anniversary

1 month ago | njspotlightnews.org | Lilo Stainton |Colleen O'Dea

Taking stock five years after COVID-19 first hit New JerseyWhile the threat is far lower, it has not disappearedFive years ago, a 32-year-old man from Fort Lee became the first New Jersey resident diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. By then, there were at least a dozen cases of COVID-19 nationwide and it had been identified in at least 76 countries, according to the World Health Organization, but the threat remained somewhat obscure.
How much power do NJ's political machines have left?

2 months ago | njspotlightnews.org | Briana Vannozzi |Colleen O'Dea

One by one the candidates for governor this year have been announcing they won’t participate in their party’s conventions, typically an important part of the primary process. This is where candidates compete for the endorsements of their organizations and the spot those endorsements previously earned them on the primary ballot. “We heard this week that state Sen. Jon Bramnick has said he will not participate in the convention process,” explained NJ Spotlight News Senior Writer Colleen O’Dea.
NJ affordable housing map, data — and potential disputes | NJ Spotlight News

2 months ago | njspotlightnews.org | Colleen O'Dea

New Jersey could see 61,000 new affordable housing units built over the next decade and another 32,000 existing low-cost units upgraded. But a lot could depend on local housing plans and who becomes the next governor. More than three-quarters of the state’s municipalities have filed resolutions certifying their affordable housing obligations, the number of units towns say meet legal requirements, with the new state Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program as of Friday. The deadline was Jan.
NJ candidates for governor find common ground on environment

2 months ago | njspotlightnews.org | Colleen O'Dea

Half of the major candidates for New Jersey governor on Monday agreed on at least some issues ranging from air pollution to renewable energy, with the differences — at least among the Democrats — often in the details. Four of the six major Democratic candidates and one of the Republicans attended an hourlong discussion on issues at the intersection of the environment and health at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research in New Brunswick.